Hopes and fears of fundraisers to be shared at Insight SIG today
Howard Lake | 27 January 2009 | News
Fundraising data specialist John Sauvé-Rodd will join Anthony Baumann, recently retired head of fundraising at the RSPCA, this afternoon to share details of the current hopes and fears of a range of 70 or so fundraising staff who have registered for the event.
The presentation will be part of Donor Profitability, an event hosted by the Institute of Fundraising’s Insight in Fundraising group from 4.30-6.30 today at Cancer Research UK’s offices in London’s Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Not surprisingly, the recession and its effects on fundraising dominate the responses.
Baumann was not surprised by most of the responses. “Most of the hopes and fears are the ones that we should have been living with and worrying about anyway during the good times and trying to do something about” he told UK Fundraising, “because as fundraisers our job is to maximise net income for our cause”.
But he did believe that two responses stood out.
“Both of their biggest fears are that charities make uninformed ‘slash and burn’ cuts to fundraising budgets – uninformed being the key word. And both hope that if cuts are to be made they are ‘informed’ cuts”.
Baumann put these concerns in context. “Most of charities data applications of the last 10 years have been directed towards driving spend on donor development”, he said, “coupled with trendy theories of relationship building and donor journeys.
“All good for their time. Now we have to think about applying that data in reverse – spending as little as is necessary to maximise net income, and to identify the lapsers whom we really do need to keep warm for the better times to come”.
He added: “That is why John Sauvé-Rodd’s presentation is so apposite now – to change the way we think”.
The event is now full, but its organisers usually publish details of what was discussed.
http://donorprofit.eventbrite.com/
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.